Sunday, July 7, 2013

Steiger Missions School 2013 UpdateZ




Blog Update #1

Dearest friends,
I can’t believe it’s been exactly 2 weeks since I’ve been in Germany. I don’t even know where to begin. It has been absolutely AMAZING. I wish I could just upload the entirety of my journal so you could just read what God has been doing. I’ll do my best to summarize this crazy missions experience.  My friends who came with me on this journey (Sam & Gau) We left Minneapolis on June 12th, 7:30pm from the Minneapolis airport and arrived in Rekejavik, Iceland around 6:30am. We had 10 hours to spare so we walked to the town of Keflavik which was about an hours’ worth of walking. It was cold, cloudy and the town was deserted and smelled like deceased fish. We got to walk on this black mountainous rocky shoreline which was the Atlantic Ocean. Then we flew to Frankfurt, and arrived at 9:30pm June 13th. I’ll never forget the feeling when the plane was landing in Frankfurt. I started crying. Just realizing that it took 2 years to get to this missions moment. My heart was SO overwhelmed. A lady in her 60s also started to cry as she saw me crying. It was such a precious moment. Realizing all the obstacles, scars, joys, hells………..to be alive for this very hour, that God had carried me to His heart, in the most unlikely of circumstances………
I was SO naïve with this traveling experience. Little did I know the madness that lay ahead. We waited about 6 hours at a train station for our 4:37AM train. My patience was growing very thin. This was my first time riding a train in Europe. We didn’t even know if we were on the right train. We went to Nurberg which was about 3 hours, then 7 more hours to Meissen. We almost missed our train to Meissen. Then from Meissen we bused to Krogis……I was SO deathly tired…….it wasn’t even funny. When we arrived in Krogis, this kind German lady who didn’t speak English told us to walk down this pathway to the missions school…… We got lost, walked forever, Sam & Gau went to find someone to ask for directions, and I just sat by the roadside and started playing my guitar and singing…5 FREAKIN KILOMETERS LATER, after dragging our freakin HEAVY luggage, we arrived at the gates of Steiger, Krogis. I was SO mad, tired, and ticked off at life…..I’ve never been in such a ridiculously long travel experience, but I couldn’t have been happier. (Let’s be honest, what really made me survive the rest of the day was when these 4 good looking young Brazilian men, helped carry our luggage the rest of the way….)





SMS Blog Update #2
The Atmosphere
There are about 100 students at this missions school. They are from Brazil, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Finland, USA……..I live with 4 other crazy young ladies. Olga & Magda from Poland. Gau, and Anna from Spain. I couldn’t have asked for better roommates. What’s really nice is that they appreciate my wild Lithuanian craziness. I’ve promised myself that I’m going to continue to learn Russian and start learning Polish. It’s going to be really hard, but for future missions purposes my heart would love to evangelize in Lithuanian, Russian, & Polish.  Krogis is literally in the middle of nowhere. The only store in the town closes at 8pm. AHMEN. I’ll survive. I absolutely LOVE living in such an international community. It’s interesting to see the culturally awkward moments unfold. A typical mission’s day…… Spending time with Jesus…..chores………..several hours of church services………….working on creative evangelistic outreach projects…….learning Russian…..learning Polish……………..hanging out with amazing dear friends……..

Sermon Quote Highlights
(The top sermon quotes that have really blessed my heart & life so far……too much amazingness to write down all at once)
“The good shepherd takes the lost sheep, puts it on his shoulders and walks with it home, lovingly. ~The heart of Steiger~
If we are going to get the world’s attention for Christ, we must be foolishly passionate ~David Pierce
“I’m going to have a fire in my soul, until I go to Jesus.” Jodi Pierce
Go to the place where you need a miracle.
When things start happening with God, you’re not going to want to continue sometimes, you’ll be really exhausted, you’ll want to quit, but you MUST keep going and NEVER give up. #SEEK.GOD.
IT DOESN”T MATTER WHAT PEOPLE THINK! IT’S NEVER ABOUT THE MONEY. PEOPLE CAN’T HOLD YOU BACK. YOU HOLD YOURSELF BACK.
“Clean the toilets” Life perspective
“If I was going to win that race, it was going to mean PAIN.”
“If I don’t die….I’m NOT going to quit” ~David Pierce
Your experiences, not others, take initiative; don’t wish you lived someone else’s life. Live your life in such a way, you aren’t jealous of anyone else’s. ~Jodi Pierce
When people say you can’t do this, remember you can do it, with God.
If you are SO afraid of criticism, IT WILL DESTROY YOUR CREATIVITY.
“I don’t like that man, I must get to know him better” ~Abe Lincoln

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